Iron Maiden headline Birmingham's Genting Arena

Following the massively successful global tour of 2016-17 in support of their 16th studio album The Book Of Souls, Iron Maiden are back on the road again with the Legacy Of The Beast World Tour.

The concept for the tour was inspired by Maiden’s mobile game and comic book of the same name, and the stage set design will feature a number of different but interlocking ‘worlds’.

Their set list will cover a large selection of 1980s material with a handful of surprises from later albums to add diversity.

Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain says the band are enjoying their present tour, having kicked off on May 26 in Tallinn, Estonia, in front of a 10,500-capacity crowd at Saku Suurhall. At that gig, they kicked off with Aces High, complete with a Spitfire war plane replica suspended over the musicians, which hadn’t been performed since 2014, before continuing with Where Eagles Dare, which was played for the first time in 13 years.

The show also included The Clansman, Sign Of The Cross, For The Greater Good Of God, The Wicker Man and Flight Of Icarus.

Nicko says the show featured plenty of production to make it a special night out for fans.

“We’ve got a lot of production, more so than we normally have. When I say ‘production,’ I mean lots of effects, lots of special staging, which is basically the realms [of the Legacy Of The Beast video game]. What we did was we leant the Legacy Of The Beast game – this isn’t to promote the game. We thought ‘Let’s just go back out.’ We just did the Book Of Souls album and tour last year; obviously, the album was released in 2015.

“Having said that, we thought, we want to go out and do another summer tour. I think Bruce [Dickinson, vocals] and Rod [Smallwood, MAIDEN manager] came up with the idea, ‘let’s go with some of the different realms that are within the Legacy Of The Beast game.’ That, of course, lends itself to a lot of the older music, older material. Some of the stuff we haven’t played . . . let me see: Flight Of Icarus, that hasn’t had an airing in gosh knows how long [32 years].

“Sign Of The Cross, 2001. There’s a lot of stuff that’s been over a decade since we played live. We dusted down some of the old songs and we fit the production in with these three different realms which are within the game, Legacy Of The Beast. Of course, you’ve got all of the Eddies. There’s a lot of Eddies going on there. There’s a lot of fireworks, a lot of wonderful effects. Bruce has staged some wonderful theatrics. But, for us, as a band, it gives us an opportunity to play some of the older stuff we haven’t played in a long time.”

Nicko has to stay in shape to make sure he can survive the rigours of a world tour. He has to be physically and mentally fit to keep on top of his kit and make sure he’s in time. He got his drum set delivered to his home in Florida before the tour started, so that he could work out with that.

“Before, I was playing on a five-piece drum set. It’s not the same. It’s just not the same as playing an 11-piece kit with all of your cymbals because there’s a different way – I still sit the same height. I’ll go and run the set. I’ll learn the songs, like the older songs we haven’t played in a while. I’ll listen to the live versions, but they’re all too quick. [Laughs] I wonder why.

“They were a lot quicker than the album versions, so I actually went back and listened between the two, then what I’d do, I found a happy medium where I would clock the timings of the intros and the middle section, say for Sign Of The Cross. Sign Of The Cross is one of those songs that has to have a life of its own. [Mimics drumbeat] before the solos, if we go too quick there, the solos are too fast. There’s no actual meter between one section to the other.

“They’re all sort of moody, so it’s just kind of re-learning through the live and the album version because the album version, actually [mimics drumbeat again], it’s really quick. So, I sit down and try to work it out. It’s about four weeks of going through the songs, then I’ll play a little bit. I have to get this hand working [holds left hand]. I’ve got a pulled ligament in my wrist, which I got two years when we started the last tour. So, I can’t just like I was when I was younger go out cold. I have to warm myself up because I am an old git. Your body starts changing, but the thing is with Maiden, we all still really, really have a passion to play live.”